“Check the age of your alarms. Smoke alarms need to be replaced after ten years usually, and carbon monoxide alarms usually after 5-7.”

Time Is Your Enemy in a Fire

“Time is your enemy in a fire and working smoke alarms give you precious time to use your home escape plan before poisonous gases and heat make escape impossible.” said Ostroskey, “Remember: smoke alarms are a sound you can live with.”

Replace Aging Smoke Alarms

“Smoke alarms, like other household appliances, don’t last forever,” said Chief Timothy J. Grenno, president of the Fire Chiefs’ Association of Massachusetts.

“Every 10 years the entire alarm needs to be replaced, not just the batteries,” he added. The state fire code requires replacement battery-operated smoke alarms to have 10-year, sealed, non-replaceable, non-rechargeable batteries in older one- and two-family homes. “Fire officials hope that if we make smoke alarms easier for people to maintain, they will take care of them. We see too many disabled smoke alarms in fires when people really needed them to work," Grenno said.

Senior SAFE

Two hundred forty-one (241) fire departments across the state have grant-funded Senior SAFE Programs. Seniors who need help testing, maintaining or replacing smoke alarms should contact their local fire department or senior center for assistance.

"Four out of every ten of the people who have died in fires last year were over 65. We want our seniors to be safe from fire in their own homes," Ostroskey said.

Working Smoke Alarms Are a Sound You Can Live With

“No one expects to be a victim of a fire, but the best way to survive one that does occur is to have working smoke alarms," Grenno said.

In the average house fire, there are only 1-3 minutes to escape AFTER the smoke alarm sounds.

“Take a few minutes to protect those you love by changing the batteries in your smoke alarms this weekend," Grenno said. Then take a step stool and some 9-volts to your parents or older neighbor’s and ask if you can refresh their smoke alarms.”